The College Files
by rabidcrazygirl
Summary: Scully, Mulder, Reyes, Doggett, the Lone Gunmen all together in college, investigating paranormal activities, uncovering conspiracies, and falling in love. Because everyone loves some good fluff, that's why. MSR with a bit of DRR.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, here's my on-crack AU fic. All the characters are at college together. And yes, yes, I know that Mulder went to Oxford and this college is not Oxford– that's why it's AU. Also, sadly, I own nothing. In the entire world. Including David Duchovny. I cry myself to sleep at night.**

**Anyway, this first chapter is just introducing everyone and getting relationships set up. No actual plot yet, I don't think. **

Fox Mulder sunk down in his seat in the back of the classroom. _This is going to be a long four years, _he thought, taking in the scene before him. It was his first day of college– Yale– and he was already feeling alone. And bored. The classes that his parents were forcing him to take this year were not making him excited. For instance, this class he was in now– Anatomy– was one that he could see himself sleeping through. Every single day.

His interest perked up a bit as a trio of boys came into the room, bickering, and sat down next to him. One was very tall with long blonde hair and glasses. The second was dressed in a suit and tie, looking uncomfortable but fierce as he argued with the third boy, an intensely short individual wearing glasses.

"No, Frohike, I just don't think that that is a logical explanation for the admissions policy of colleges in America! It isn't plausible at all!"

"I'm telling you, Byers, the government makes sure that alien abductees go to the best colleges– they want to keep track of them, they want to make sure that they choose jobs that the government can easily track. High profile jobs!" the short boy responded, leaning forward over his desk.

"He has a point, Byers," the blonde boy added, nodding sagely.

"Oh, come on, Langly!" Byers exclaimed. "Don't tell me that you're agreeing with this idiot as well!"

At the mention of alien abductions, Mulder had leaned forward, eager to pick up on the conversation. Now he decided to add in his thoughts. "Excuse me," he said. "Did I hear you say 'alien abductees'?"

The three turned towards him, each face holding an expression of fierce defensiveness. "What if I did?" said Frohike.

"Er...nothing. I'm just...intrigued. You...um...you believe in that kind of stuff, do you?" Mulder asked.

Byers looked as though he was about to deny it, then changed his mind and nodded tentatively. Langly looked more sure of himself when he said, "Yeah," and Frohike looked positively violent when he said, "Of course! How else would you explain the election of some of these politicians? Alien involvement!"

Mulder bit back a laugh and held out a hand instead. "I'm Fox Mulder."

The three other men gave him incredulous looks. "Fox?" asked Langly. "Are you serious?"

Mulder shrugged. "It doesn't really bother me. Everyone calls me Mulder anyway."

"Well," said Byers, "I'm John Byers. This is Langly, and the short twit is Frohike. We run an online newspaper– we're the Lone Gunmen."

Frohike looked as though he were about to comment, but then his eyes slid to the door. "Hello," he said. "Hottie alert!"

Mulder automatically turned to look where Frohike was pointing. Two women had just entered together. The redhead was laughing at something that the brunette had just said, and Mulder felt his heart do something funny in his chest. She was, without a doubt, the most attractive woman he'd ever seen. He wished that he was a bit more outgoing– there was in the world he wanted more at that moment than to have the courage to go over and introduce himself.

So when another guy, a tall blue-eyed man walked over to the two and introduced himself, Mulder felt like growling. He watched as the man stuck out his hand to shake with first the red-head, then the brunette. He gestured to the desks, and the three climbed the stairs, growing closer and closer to where Mulder was sitting with the three Gunmen.

Mulder almost jumped for joy when the redhead sat down in the seat in front of him. The brunette took the desk next to her, and the guy took the chair behind her, next to Mulder.

The redhead turned and looked at Mulder– who promptly found himself drowning in largest, bluest eyes that he had ever seen. He felt himself robbed of speech– his throat was dry and his palms were damp. He hadn't felt like this since tenth grade.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Dana Scully."

Mulder cleared his throat. "Fox Mulder." He stuck out his hand, which Dana Scully shook. When she let go, she gestured to her left.

"This is my friend Monica Reyes," she said. "We were in high school together. And this is..." she trailed off, looking at the man sitting behind Reyes. "I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

Inside, Mulder rejoiced. _She can't remember his name! She doesn't care enough!_

The man gave a smile and was about to supply the elusive name when Dana's friend cut in. "It's John Dougett!" she exclaimed. "God, Dana! You just met the man a minute ago!"

"It's alright," said the man in a thick New York accent. "I don't think I'll be able to remember any one else's name today either."

"Well, hello there," came a voice from over Mulder's shoulder. Mulder felt his heart sink as he saw Frohike sliding over to Dana. "Mulder, you've been in this room for ten minutes, and you've already met the hottest chick in all of Yale. How do you do? I'm Frohike."

Dana raised her eyebrow and Mulder smiled. "Er...Dana Scully."

Frohike looked as though he were about to say something entirely inappropriate, so Mulder was relieved beyond the infinite of thought when the professor walked into the room. The class quieted down and Frohike slunk back to his seat.

"Good day, class," the professor said, extinguishing a cigarette in the ash tray resting on his desk. "I'm Professor Carlson. Please take out a notepad and a pen. Welcome to Yale."

**Yes. So, there's the first chapter, hope you enjoyed it, please review, etc, etc. Also, pray for plot, please, 'cuz I'm not sure what the hell kind of plot my twisted mind can come up with. Who knows...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back! I'm sure that you're all intensely thrilled at the continuation of the college files. You know you are. **

**Sooo...again, I own nothing in the world so I choose to write about that which I do not own. And let the "drama" begin!**

Throughout Professor Carlson's lecture, Dana Scully was intensely aware of the presence of the man sitting behind her. The memory of the slightly-amused, slightly-haunted hazel eyes hovered in her mind as her hand disjointedly took notes. _This should be my favorite class,_ Dana thought, marveling at how bored she was already. _I mean, anyone planning to be a doctor when they graduate– especially a doctor who wants to specialize in medical examination._

Dana decided that it was the professor who was making the subject so boring. _There's just something so . . . _sleazy _about him!_ She thought. _Hope I don't have to get to know him in any way._

After class was dismissed, Dana gathered her things together and glanced over to Monica so that they could walk to their next class together. But Dana's best friend was busy flirting her ass off– with the guy they'd just met. John Dougett. She smiled and began walking towards the door.

"Hey!" a voice called hastily. Dana turned and looked into the face of a very flustered Fox Mulder.

"Hi..." she said, smiling inquisitively.

Mulder grinned disarmingly. "Hey, Scully, I was just wondering where you were headed."

Dana wasn't sure how she felt about this man using her last name to refer to her, but she decided that it didn't really bother her that much. "Free period," she told him. "I was going to explore the campus."

"Mind if I join you?" Mulder asked.

Dana raised her eyebrow. "No. Come on, let's get going."

Mulder shouldered a backpack and followed her out the door. He smiled inwardly when he realized how short she was– she barely came up to the middle of his chest, _and _she was wearing heels.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, taking in the scenery. Then Mulder decided to break the quiet. "So . . . where you from?" he asked.

"Maryland," she replied. "Baltimore. You?"

"I'm from New Jersey," he replied. "Pretty close to New York City."

"Ah," she said.

Pause.

"What did you think of Carlson's class?"

"Boring as hell," Mulder replied immediately. "I thought that anatomy would be at least a little interesting. I mean, it's not like I wanted to take the class, but I didn't expect it to be _that _mind-numbing!"

"I know what you mean," Dana replied. "But why are you taking the class if you don't want to?"

"My parents," Mulder said. "They're kind of controlling– they decided I should take Anatomy so I'm taking Anatomy. My mother is really protective, especially since–" he broke off, flushing. Dana decided not to push him– she barely knew the guy and she definitely didn't want to make him more uncomfortable than he was already.

Monica Reyes watched her best friend walk off campus, grinning. She turned to the man standing next to her. "God, look at them. They're so cute!"

John Dougett chuckled. "Yeah, well, you'd know better than me. You wanna grab some dinner?"

Monica flushed slightly. "Sure," she replied, and followed Dougett towards the mess hall.

Three hours later, Mulder and Scully made their way back towards the dorms. They'd gotten lost and had been wandering around until, by chance, they'd stumbled upon the college again.

"Who'd have thought an entire college building would be that easy to lose track of?" Mulder asked in bewilderment. Scully smiled, grimacing slightly as her feet protested. She wasn't used to wearing high heels for such long periods of time and she certainly hadn't been expecting to tramp around a college town for hours on end.

"What time is it?" she asked, yawning slightly. Mulder smiled.

"Nearly ten," he said. "We just barely made it back in– oof!" Mulder stumbled over something in the dark, winding up sprawled on the ground. Dana laughed a little, then asked, "Are you alright?"

Her companion grunted and dragged himself to his feet. "Yeah. What was that?" He walked back over to the spot where he had stumbled and pulled a flashlight from his flashlight. At Dana's curious raised eyebrow, he said, "Always be prepared. I guess I just never got over my boy scout phase."

The amusement died, though, as he shone the flashlight beam down on the ground-- onto the bloodstained face of a student.

"…the hell?" exclaimed Dana, bending down over the body, hair falling in a red curtain over her face. She felt with two fingers for a pulse, and found none. "He's dead," she said to Mulder, eyes wide with shock.

"What?" Mulder asked, moving forward to get a better look at the face of the student on the ground. The man's eyes were blank, staring spheres of nothing, staring into his death. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides, and his face was covered with blood from his nose.

Dana heard something make a slight clicking noise behind her, and she whirled, squinting into the dark. Mulder stood as he saw her turn, asking, "What was it?"

"I thought I saw something flare—" Dana said, breaking off. "Nevermind. It was probably just someone lighting a cigarette or something."

"Scully, do we tell someone?" Mulder asked, still staring down at the body at his feet. "Or do we let someone else find him? Do we want to get involved?"

Dana turned back to her companion, just as the clock on a nearby church began to toll ten o'clock. "I think we should just—"

A noise overhead made them look up, gazing straight into a bright white light that, for a moment, took everything away.

**Ah...Christ. My writings getting even worse than it was already. Well, the quest for the plot has made some progress– "some" being the operative word. Review if you want me to keep writing! Reviewreviewreviewreview! You love them– you know others will as well!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, all! I would just like to, first off, thank Gothic Spook for catching my misspelling of Doggett's name! Thanks!**

**Still penniless and forsaken in the world . . . in case any of you were wondering. Or, more to the point, if Chris Carter's lawyers were wondering.**

**Lawyers scare me.**

Dana shook her head to clear it. "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed, looking around to try to regain her bearings. Mulder was doing much the same thing.

"Mr. Mulder," a cold voice behind Dana said. "Miss Scully. Might I ask what you are doing here on this fine August night?"

Mulder turned and his flashlight lit the face of Mr. Carlson. Dana coughed a little at the smoke that blew in her face from the professor's cigarette.

"There's a student, sir," Mulder said stiffly, gesturing to the ground. "Dead."

It might have been the dark, but Dana could have sworn that she saw the professor _smile _slightly. "Is that so, Mr. Mulder?" the man asked, moving around the two students to gaze down at the body. "Well, it appears that you are right. Kindly proceed quickly towards your dorms. Make no mention of this to anyone. And don't worry– I'll take care of this."

"But sir–" Mulder began to protest. Dana anxiously plucked at his sleeve, wanting him to leave and not make a fuss. But she didn't have to worry, because Professor Carlson cut him off.

"Your dorm, Mr. Mulder," he said. Dana shivered. His cigarette illuminated his face slightly, giving it a red glow that looked positively demonic. "Now."

Glowering, Mulder turned and stalked away. With one last look at the professor, Dana trotted after her fellow student. When she'd caught up, she grabbed his arm to get him to slow down.

"What was that all about?" she asked, eyebrow raised. Mulder glanced down at her.

"I don't trust him, Scully," he said. "I just don't."

"Mulder, he's a teacher. He'll take care of it. Don't worry about it," she said, looking pleadingly up at him. _Don't get into trouble, don't get into trouble, don't get into trouble, don't– _"Yeah, I guess so..." Mulder trailed off, glancing down at his watch. "Look, I'd better get back to my room, it's a quarter past ten–" he froze.

"What is it?" Dana asked, looking around fearfully, as if suspecting to stumble across yet another dead body.

"It's just– before that light– it was only ten o'clock. And now it's 10:15. Scully, we lost time! We lost time!" Mulder gave a huge shout of laughter that made Dana jump.

"There's probably something wrong with your watch, Mulder," Dana said. "And even if we _did _lose time, what does that have anything to do with anything?"

Her companion abruptly stopped and turned, studying her. "Um...Listen, why don't I tell you tomorrow. Alright?"

"What? No– Mulder–" Dana was about to demand an explanation when Mulder disappeared down a corridor with a whispered, "'Night!"

She shook her head and returned to her room. No one was there– either Monica was still with John (which Dana didn't doubt) or she was in the bathroom taking a shower. Gathering her things together, Dana walked down the hall to the bathroom and took a shower herself.

When she returned, she found Monica sitting on her bed and brushing her hair. "Hello," Dana said, dumping her slightly-damp clothes next to her bed. She was acutely aware of a voice screaming in the back of her head, _There's a dead body on campus, Monica, a dead person! Right outside!_

"Hey," said her friend, smiling over at her. "Where've you been for the past three-and-a-half hours?"

"Walking around town," Dana replied, beginning to brush her damp red hair. "I got lost, though, and it took me a while to find my way back."

"You weren't alone, though, were you?" Monica asked in a teasing tone. Dana flushed slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"You know. 'Foxy Mulder'. Spent quite a bit of time with him, didn't you?"

"Well, who are you to talk?" Dana retorted. "I'll bet you spent all this time with John Doggett!"

Monica laughed, throwing a pillow at Dana, who caught it and hugged it to her chest. "You aren't getting this back, you know," she said, grinning. "Your own fault, too."

Monica cursed playfully, and flopped down on her back. Silence stretched between the two women, a silence in which every heartbeat, Dana could hear the words "Dead body, dead body, dead body." Finally, when the "Telltale Heart" similarities became too much and she was about to snap, she decided to tell her friend.

"Monica . . . " she began. "Mulder and I were walking back to the dorms and we found something a bit...disturbing..." Monica, hearing the urgency in Dana's voice, sat up and listened attentively while Dana imparted all that had happened in the past fifteen minutes or so.

"...and then he kept going on and on about how we'd 'lost time,' but he wouldn't tell me what he meant. And then he left. And now I'm here. And there's a dead person on campus and that means that tomorrow there's going to be a big deal and they might close the school until they figure out what happened," Dana concluded, shakily.

Monica stared at her, dark eyes wide. "Jesus," she said finally. "You don't go in much for quiet first days, do you?"

Dana laughed a bit, then flopped backwards. "I guess there's nothing to do but go to sleep, is there?" she asked rhetorically.

Monica nodded numbly and grabbed her pillow back from Dana. Hugging it to her chest, she turned out her light. Dana listened as the silence in the room gave way to light snores from her roommate. Then, a pair of amused hazel eyes floating before her mind's eye, Dana Scully drifted off to a troubled sleep.

**The chapters aren't long and I need to pick up the pace. A lot. But at least things are (slightly) happening. And this is better than the oneshots that I've done on previous usernames. And also, at least I can write them pretty fast. Review please! I can see you (not in a creepy way), so review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, I would just like to thank everyone who's read this and who's enjoyed this. And I would like to doubly thank everyone who's told me that they like it. I've never been called a literary genius before! blushes**

**So, I'm back for more dabbling in the lives of our favorite FBI Agents in their eternal search for that elusive plot. Damn that plot. **

**Still own nothing. Still penniless and alone in the world. Except for this computer. Funny how those things work out, isn't it?**

The next morning, Dana walked into the mess hall feeling apprehensive. She steeled herself for a slight uproar, or in the very least, a palpable sensation of fear. Perhaps students would start to leave! Perhaps there'd be riots! Mass walkouts! Food fights?

But all that Dana saw as she entered the crowded chamber was the normal mess hall chaos. There were no frightened glances, no whispered warnings, no–

"Hey Scully! Over here!" Dana searched for the source of the call and found Mulder waving frantically, sitting at a table with the early-rising Monica Reyes, John Doggett, and all three of the Lone Gunmen. Dana grabbed a carton of mild and an apple (she'd never been the hearty-breakfast-eating type) and sat down between Monica and Byers.

"Mulder told us what happened last night," said Langly, straggly blonde hair dipping in his bowl of cereal. "I think that it's fascinating!"

"You _told _them?" Dana asked, eyebrow arched incredulously. "You barely even _know _these guys! Hell, I barely even know _you_! We shouldn't be talking about it right now!"

"Wait– what happened last night?" Doggett asked, looking lost and out-of-the-loop. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Our extraterrestrial visitors," said Frohike matter-of-factly, straying bagel crumbs all over the table. Byers winced and straightened his tie.

Doggett laughed. "Aliens? Do you guys have some special drug I'm missin' out on or somethin'?"

Mulder looked at him. "No drugs here, Doggett. But these aliens killed a student last night."

Dana spoke up. "Mulder, I've been wodering something. Someone _was _killed last night– but no one seems that concerned." She gestured to the surrounding mess hall, at the hoards of laughing, sleeping, and talking students– none of whom seemed to be concerned about anything out of the ordinary.

"That's because no one knows about it, Scully," Mulder replied, regarding her calmly. "Professor Carlson must have covered it up. He doesnt want the rest of the student body– or the rest of the world, for that matter– to know about any of this."

"Mulder, you're crazy," Dana said flatly. "Why would he want to do anything like that?"

The man shrugged. "Beats me. Why don't you ask him?"

Dana shook her head. "Why are you so quick to believe that it was aliens, Mulder?" she asked, slightly amused. "Why not Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster?"

"Because of the time loss, Scully!" exclaimed Mulder. "I figured it out as we were walking back! We lost _nine minutes _to that bright light! Time loss is something that alien abductees often complain of upon their return!"

"Are you saying that we were abducted by aliens, Mulder?" Scully demanded, eyes flashing. "Do you realize how crazy that sounds?"

"I'm saying that we made contact with extraterrestrial life, _Scully_," Mulder retorted.

The three Lone Gunmen watched the two students argue with each other. Their heads rotated back and forth, looking for all the world like they were spectators at a tennis match.

"Why are you so fixated on aliens, anyway?" Scully asked, her voice growing louder and more insistent. "Why? Why are you so sure that it was _aliens_? Why can't you just give up and let the proper authorities handle this? What the hell are you fighting for?"

"My sister!" Mulder yelled, eyes wide and angry. His breath came in pants as he struggled to calm himself down. The other students at the table watched him, astonished by the raw hurt in his voice. "Samantha," he whispered.

"Oh...Mulder..." Dana murmured. She reached out and lightly touched his arm, tentatively offering what support she had. Mulder glanced up at her, hazel eyes meeting blue, and a spark of what felt like electricity shot between them.

"I've...I've gotta go. To class," Mulder stammered out, and then, pushing his chair back from the table, he stumbled out the door.

Dana glanced hopelessly at Monica, who shrugged. "Go after him," her friend said. "You're the only one of us who has the slightest idea of what's going on."

Dana rolled her eyes, picked up her back, and walked out of the mess hall. She had to trot to catch up with Mulder– he was a great deal taller than her, with proportionally longer legs. When she finally had, she was slightly out of breath, and slightly annoyed.

"Mulder!" she called. "Wait!"

He stopped, but didn't turn around. "Go back to the mess hall, Scully," he said. "You don't want to get involved with me. You don't want to get involved in this. You've got a bright, promising future ahead of you. Don't throw it away chasing after someone you don't believe in."

Scully reached out and laid her hand on his arm. "I don't know exactly why this is haunting you, Mulder," she said quietly. "I don't who what this...I cant describe it as anything except a case, but I don't know exactly what this case means to you. But I do know that what you and I encountered last night wasn't something that was meant to be covered up. If students are being killed, I want to know why, I want to know how, and I want to know who's doing it. And I think that knowledge should be available to the rest of the world."

Mulder finally turned and regarded her with slightly watery eyes. "You mean that?" he asked.

"I want to get to the bottom of this, Mulder," she said simply. "I want to help."

**Aaaaand voila! Another chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! I know it didn't have much action in it (not that any do) but I promise– it'll get more exciting, too! And emotions are fun to play with. Though not necessarily as fun to read about.**

**Review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**And now it's time for a lovely bit of DRR and the Obligatory Dance Reference. But some plot will occur as well, worry not. You avid readers you. **

**I got nothing, rights or money-wise.**

Monica Reyes stared up at the huge, brightly-colored banner stretched over the main entrance to the dorms. "Homecoming dance– 10/31. Are you ready?" she read, wincing as she did so.

"It's bad enough having a homecoming dance," she commented to the man standing next to her. "But this is Yale! One of the top schools in the world! I thought that we'd left these high-schoolish things behind when we graduated!"

"Not to mention the face that it's on Halloween," added Brad Follmer, glancing at Monica as he spoke. "I expect we'll have to come dressed in costume."

"If we come at all," Monica said, still examining the sign. "I mean, it's not as if anyone's going to ask..."

Follmer's eyes shifted sideways and he studied the woman next to him. Finally, after a bit of a pause, he spoke. "Would you go to the dance with me, Monica?"

Monica, startled out of her reverie by this unexpected question, blinked. Then she said, "Oh...er...All right. I suppose,"

"Great!" Follmer said, mouth twisting into a relieved grin. "Well, I've got a Forensices essay to work on. See you around!"

"Yeah," Monica said, and stared after the departing man, wondering exactly what the hell had just happened.

"What are you lookin' at?" came another male voice from behind her. She turned and stared straight into the ice-blue eyes of John Doggett.

"Hey," she said, voice catching slightly in her throat as her heart did a lively tap dance on her stomach. "Er...just the sign." She gestured upwards at it.

John's eyes followed her finger and he winced as he took in the words on the sign. "Oh," he said. "I thought I was done with dances!"

"Me too," said Monica, sighing slightly. There was a pause.

"You wanna go with me?" John asked after the silence had stretched on a bit too long. He gazed at Monica slightly pleadingly and she had trouble breathing.

"Oh, John," she said. "I'd love to. I'd really love to. But I already told Brad that I'd go with him!"

"Brad?" John asked, looking a bit as though he'd been punched in the stomach.

"Brad Follmer," Monica clarified apologetically. "From my Eastern Lit class. He's a big guy, with blonde hair, into swimming..."

"Oh..." John trailed off. He began looking about himself shiftily, as though searching for an opportunity to make a hasty exit. "Oh, look at that!" he exclaimed finally. "Frohike looks as though he needs help with all those textbooks. I'd better go save him. I'll...uh...I'll see you around, Monica!" He darted off in a random direction, leaving Monica wondering exactly where John had spotted Frohike and if the man was even in a fifty yard radius from where she currently stood.

In a sort of semi-daze, Monica wandered inside to her dorm room. Dana was already there, lying on her bed and studying out of a big gray textbook with the word "ANATOMY" scrawled in bright red letters across the cover.

"What's up?" she asked as she saw her friend come in. Monica just shrugged, at a loss for words. Dana sat up, slightly concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Er...yeah, I guess," Monica replied, sitting down on her bed with a slight, "oomph". It's nothing important. What are you doing?"

"Studying for an Advanced Anatomy test," Dana said. "Ever since I moved out of the one you're in two weeks ago, I've been swamped with work. But what's wrong, Monica?"

"Oh lordie..." Monica said, flopping onto her back. "You know about the homecoming dance?"

"I may have seen something about it somewhere..." her friend said,

"Well, there's a huge poster over the dorm doors," Monica explained. "I saw it...Brad Follmer saw it...he asked me if I'd go with him...I said yes..."

"Well that's not bad!" Dana exclaimed, blue eyes glinting with amusement. "He's cute– you could do a lot worse!"

"Yeah..." Monica said. "But then, two seconds after he asked me, John did the same thing."

"What asked you to the dance?"

"Yeah. And when I told him that I was going with someone else, he literally ran away." She sighed. "I hope nothing's going to change between us. I mean, things have been so comfortable. I really like John." At Dana's raised eyebrow, Monica hastily clarified, "But not like that! John's a friend!" _An incredibly, devilishly attractive friend who I wouldn't mind making out with for a few hours on end..._

"Uh-oh," said Dana, smiling knowingly as she returned to her textbook.

Monica felt the need for revenge and asked, "Well, how are things with Foxy Smoulder? How's the search for 'The Truth' coming?"

Dana glared over at her friend. "Touche," she commented, setting her book down. "He spends all his time in the library, working day and night. And all he's managed to do is get Professor Carlson to hate him intensely. Seriously, when Mulder gets obsessed with something, nothing will persuade him to let it go. I've tried to run all different kinds of scientific explanations by him, but he won't listen. He's convinced that it's aliens."

Before Monica could make an incredulous comment, the telephone on Dana's bedside table rang. Dana picked it up and listened to the person on the other end, eyebrows rising higher and higher the longer the other person talked. Finally she said, "Okay, okay, I'll be right there. Just don't do anything...stupid." She hung up the phone.

"Mulder?" asked Monica.

"Mulder," Dana affirmed, with a tired nod of the head. "He says he's found something, but he didn't say where or what it was. I've got a sinking feeling about this."

"But you're still going to see about it?" asked Monica.

"Well, I promised him I'd help, didn't I?" responded Dana, picking up her coat and heading out the door.

As she walked across the campus to the place where she'd agreed to meet with Mulder, she saw a tall figure running towards her. She stopped, trying to figure out who it was, and when the figure came close enough she recognized him.

"Hey, John," she said to Doggett as he came panting up beside her.

"Hi, Scully," he responded, out of breath. Doggett had adopted Mulder's habit of calling Dana by her last name, as had the three Lone Gunmen. Occasionally, Dana felt as though she was in some sort of English boarding school, but in the end, she realized there were several much worse things that they could be calling her.

"I was just wondering, Scully," Doggett said, catching his breath, "if you would be willing to accompany me to the Homecoming dance."

Dana blinked in surprise. "Er...alright, I guess. I mean, it'll save me from having to go with Frohike."

Doggett didn't seem put off by this less than enthusiastic response. "Great!" he said. "Thanks! See you later!" And off he ran again. Dana shook her head in bemusement as she watched him go, then continued on to the library, where she was to meet Mulder.

When she got there, she found the man practically jumping with excitement. "I've got to show you this, Scully," he said. "You need to see this. It proves everything that I've talked with you about. Everything."

"Okay, Mulder," said Scully, with a long-suffering sigh. "Lead the way."

She had expected him to lead her into the library to look at some sort of odd book that he'd found, but he instead walked towards the teacher's dorms. "Mulder, where the hell are we going?" she inquired.

"You'll see!" was his enigmatic answer.

They arrived at the building and began descending various flights of stairs and walking down hallways that all looked the same to Dana. Finally, they'd gone as low in the building as they could, and Mulder gestured to a small door ahead of them. It was dusty, and grime covered the nameplate. Wiping away some of the dirt, Dana read the words, "X-Files" on the door.

"What the hell is this?" she asked. "Are we going in?"

"Of course we're going in!" he responded. "Come on!" Mulder reached out and opened the door. He motioned for Scully to enter first, and then followed her inside.

Outside the door, in the darkness, someone lit a cigarette.

**Ooooh the suspense. I bet it's killing you. I bet it is. shakes head it isn't, is it?**

**Aaaaaaaanyways, that's chapter five. I hope you liked it. Please review! I loves the reviews so much! And I can see that people are reading this and not reviewing. glares you wouldn't like that if someone did that to you, would you?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Plot plot plot who's got the plot I don't have a plot what's a plot I don't know where a plot is where does one find plots ooh look I think I see a plot is it a plot I don't know what do you think? **

**Nothing is owned by me. Not Chris Carter, not Mulder or Scully or Doggett or Reyes or any of the Lone Gunmen or Cancer Man or Skinner (who will FINALLY be making an appearance). The list just keeps getting longer and longer, drilling the sad fact into my skull– the fact that I OWN NOTHING OF IMPORTANCE!**

**I love disclaimers. **

Mulder shone his flashlight along the walls of the dusty, crowded, darkened room. There were filing cabinets lined along the edges of the room, with papers scattered along the floor and folders piled high on the sole table in the middle of the room. He let out a low whistle.

"What the hell is this place?" asked Scully. Mulder shone the flashlight on her, laughing a little at the expression of irritation that crossed her face as she squinted into the sudden light.

Mulder responded by picking up one of the folders on the table, a plain manilla thing with the number 1968 written on it in bright red letters, and holding it out to her. "Read it," he said. "Read it. See what it says."

"Mulder..." Scully trailed off. Her eyes flickered to the door– she wasn't comfortable in this dark, close room, and she was sure that they would get into a shitload of trouble if they were found.

"Read it, Scully," Mulder said. "Please?"

Sighing, Dana reached out and took the folder from her companion. She scanned the words on the papers inside, eyebrows raising higher and higher with each word that she read. Finally, she looked up.

"I...don't know what to say, Mulder," she said. "Except that this must be some sort of hoax. What is in the other folders?"

"The same thing," her partner replied, "but at different times. These cases go back as far as Yale does. Every year, a student has disappeared, and then turned up dead early the next. The boy that we found– Jonas Ericson," Mulder held up a folder with the number "2004" blazed across it. "He was a member of the graduating class of 2007– a sophomore when he was abducted on October 31. No one in this school remembers him. His family was told that he'd had a car accident. It was expertly covered up, just as the rest of them were."

"October 31..." Dana trailed off. "Did the rest of them disappear on that date?"

Mulder checked a few more folders. "Yes!" he said in surprise. "I hadn't caught that before! Why?"

"Because that's when the homecoming dance is," Dana replied, leaning against the rickety table. "Things are hectic and it's impossible for teachers to keep track of all the kids. It would be perfectly possible for a murderer to lure a student away."

"Or aliens," said Mulder, doggedly. He paused. "A dance, you said?"

"Yeah," Dana responded, avoiding his gaze. "Doggett asked me to go. I said yes."

There was a clank and then a bunch of swearing– Mulder had dropped the flashlight on his foot. "You– you're going with Doggett?" he asked.

"Yes!" Dana exclaimed. But before Mulder could respond to this piece of news, there was a knocking at the door. The two students exchanged panicked looks as the door swung open, revealing a tall, balding man in glasses and a suit.

"You two," he said sternly. "Come with me."

Glancing fearfully at each other, Mulder and Scully followed him out the door– but not before Mulder slipped two of the folders into his jacket.

The three walked silently through the halls– Dana had personally no idea where they were headed– but finally, they wound up in a sunlit office building. The man sat down behind a desk, and it was then that Scully had a chance to read the nameplate on it– "Principal Walter Skinner."

_Shit_, she thought.

"I was told by Professor Carlson that the two of you were mucking about in an off-limits room," Principal Skinner said, glaring at the two students. "What the hell were you doing there?"

"We got lost, sir," said Mulder, smiling grimly. "I was going to turn in an assignment– Scully graciously offered to accompany me– and we got lost and wound up in the basement room."

Skinner raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh," he said skeptically. He glanced down at a sheet of paper on his desk. "Mulder, is it?" he asked. "Fox Mulder?" Mulder nodded. "Well, Professor Carlson says that you're a lot of trouble, and I'm a bit more inclined to take his word rather than yours. But, just for the sake of a fair argument, what do you have to say about it?"

"Professor Carlson is a prick, sir" said Mulder, staring straight ahead. Dana stared at him with her mouth hanging open– where had he gotten the courage to say something like that about a teacher? In front of the _principal_!

"Well, if that's all you have against him," said Skinner, "then I think that this can be dismissed. If I fought with Carlson because I thought he was being a prick, we'd never stop. But I can't excuse your wandering around in the basement of the staff dorms."

"I told you, sir, we were just lost," Mulder repeated. "We didn't see anything of importance. Anything at all."

"Miss Scully?" Skinner switched his attention to the small, quiet red-head standing before him. "What do you have to say about this?"

Scully glanced up at Mulder, then met Skinner's gaze. She swallowed. "We were lost, sir," she said.

Skinner studied them for a moment. "Fine," he said finally. "But if I ever catch you near that room again, there will be serious consequences."

"Thank you sir," Dana mumbled. Mulder said nothing, and the two of them turned and walked quickly out the door.

As they strode towards the building's exit (Scully trotting to keep up with her companion), Mulder whispered, "I told you so."

Dana rolled her eyes. "What you told me and what I saw in that room don't have anything to do with each other," she said exasperatedly. "Nothing at all."

"Dear God!" Mulder exclaimed. They'd just exited the building, and he stopped, standing right outside and staring at Dana. "What the hell does it take for you to believe me? Why won't you trust me on this?"

"I haven't seen anything that definitively points to extraterrestrial involvement," said Dana. "Not that I'd know how to identify anything as such. But to me, it just seems like you're pulling this out of the air. You've got to get me more solid proof, Mulder!"

"How much more solid can you get than this?" Mulder asked, waving the folders that he'd taken in the air. He began walking again, towards the students' dorms, and again Dana had to run to keep up.

"I don't know," she said helplessly. "But someone's got to help keep you in line. You can't go running every which way with these crazy theories. It's not rational! You're not being rational, and you almost got us expelled back there!"

They reached the dorms and Mulder took the steps two at a time. "Well why don't you take your goddam strict rationalism and discuss it with John Doggett?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm sure he'd appreciate it very much. You'll make a cute couple, I'm sure!" And with that parting remark, Mulder slammed down the corridor leading to the boys dorms, leaving Dana standing alone.

**Weeeeeeeell. Yes. That's a chapter, that is. Enjoyed it, I hope you did. Review, I hope you will. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?**

**Also, please forgive the poor writing style. This is something that I pounded off at very late o'clock, so I didn't go over it or anything. Bits may not make much sense or may not flow very well– but hell, my life does much the same thing, and I don't hear anyone complaining.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's been reviewing. That's really cool of you guys, and it (not to be too sappy) it means a fair bit to me, that anyone would like the way I write well enough to encourage me onwards the way that you do. So thank you. A lot, thank you.**

**Lack of plot warning here– just sort of building up to the dance. Also, this thing is "almost" over, as much as I hate to say it. Two or three more chapters, I think. Tops.**

**Disclaimer: see any of the previous.**

Monica Reyes and Dana Scully strolled down the sidewalk, side by side. A comfortable silence stretched between them as they enjoyed the crisp fall air. They had been shopping for homecoming dresses together, and now each held a large blue plastic bag at her side as they headed back towards campus.

Monica slid a look sideways to her friend. "You know, Dana," she said, smiling, "I never figured you for the dance-going type. So why are you going to this one?" _Mulder asked you, didn't he?_ She guessed, the thought making her giggle inside.

Dana winced. So far (mostly by luck), she'd been able to avoid telling Monica who she was going with, and the confrontation had been avoided. Dana wasn't a fool– she knew how Monica thought of Doggett, and she was extremely uncomfortable to be thrown between them. It seemed as though her luck was about to run out.

"Well, you know," Dana said, still attempting to dodge the inevitable. "First dance at a new school . . . I just figured that I'd like to...go. Check out the scene."

"Uh-huh," said Monica, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Dana, you've never 'checked out the scene' in your entire life! Plus, I know that I wasn't going to go until Brad asked, and that you felt the same way. The not going part, not the Brad part. So who asked you, Dana? He must be quite the find."

Her friend remained silent for a moment, searching frantically for a way out of the revelation ahead. But no such opportunity presented itself, and she was forced to say quietly, "I was asked by John Doggett."

Monica stopped dead in her tracks. "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that again?"

"John Doggett," Dana said a bit louder. "He asked me a couple of weeks ago. After you turned him down."

Her friend began to splutter. "Well– well, what about Mulder? I thought you were going with him! John? You– you can't be going with John!"

"I am, Monica," Dana replied. "And Mulder didn't ask me," she added, a bit bitterly. "I think he's going with Diana Fowley." _That slut,_ she thought.

"Oh . . . " Monica said. "Er . . . why didn't you tell me?"

"'Cuz I was afraid that you'd hate me," Dana replied, staring at the ground.

"I don't hate you, silly!" Monica cried. _Unless you touch him, in which case, so help me, I will tear you limb from limb. Best friends or not._

"Well, I know how you feel about him, and I was just worried that–"

Monica cut her off with a slightly brittle laugh. "How I feel about him? Dana, he's a friend! Nothing more!"

Dana's eyebrow rose slightly in the famous Dana-Scully-Skeptical look. Monica sighed and started walking again.

"I just can't believe that I never figured it out before today!" she exclaimed. "I mean, the dance is _tomorrow_! How'd you keep it quiet for so long?"

"Luck, mostly," Dana admitted, shrugging. "You didn't ask the right questions, and I was able to keep the rest to myself simply by not bringing it up. Ever."

"Well, why didn't Mulder ask you?" Monica asked, with blatant curiosity. "Everyone on campus knows how he feels about you."

Dana blushed. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said stiffly. "Besides, I haven't talked to him lately. We had a kind of a fight a week or so ago, and I haven't spoken to him since."

Monica rolled her eyes. "Come on, what are you? Four years old? But I'm smart– I won't ask what you fought about, _Scully_," she said, in a bad imitation of the subject of their conversation.

They entered the gates of the school and began crossing the campus.

"Well, so long as you're not plotting to kill me in my sleep," Dana said, "then I guess things are fine. Right?"

"Right," Monica said, slightly ashamedly. She had been plotting to do just that. "Oh look! It's the Three Stooges!" She pointed across the campus towards the fast-approaching Lone Gunmen. "Wonder what they're so excited about?"

Dana shrugged, but she had a feeling that, whatever it was, it had to do with Mulder, and she really didn't want to have anything to do with it.

"I'm just gonna–" she turned to leave, but she was too late. The three men had already caught up.

"Hey there, Scully," said Frohike in greeting. "Lookin' good. It true that you're going with Doggett to the dance?"

Monica turned to her friend and mouthed an indignant _Even _he _knew?_ Scully shrugged and gave a helpless "Yeah."

"Well, if you change your mind before tomorrow night," Frohike said, "you know who to call!"

Langly snorted. "Shut up, Frohike. We came to deliver a message to Scully."

"Oh really?" Monica said, with an amused smile on her face.

"Yeah," said Byers. "Mulder says to remind you that tomorrow is the 31 of October, and to watch your back, because you never know when Cancer Man might be there."

"Who the hell is Cancer Man?" Dana asked in irritation. "And why is Mulder acting like he's in a bad film noir movie? If he wants to tell you something, he can do it himself, not by sending you three over."

Frohike looked affronted. "Cancer Man is Mulder's nickname for Professor Carlson," he said, "on account of the fact that he's always smoking. And come on, Langly. Byers. I can see when we're not wanted. Good day, madam."

"'Bye," said Dana, still angry.

"I said good day!"screamed Frohike. He marched off, the other two Lone Gunmen trailing behind him. Dana glanced at Monica and gave in to a quick bout of laughter.

"Come on," Monica said finally, holding up her shopping bag. "Let's get these dresses back to our rooms, and hide there before anyone else spots us and decides to 'talk'."

Dana nodded, and the two women walked off. They'd only gone a few feet when silence overtook them once more. As they entered their room, they were lost in their prospective worlds– one of ice blue and one of hazel green– and both entirely out of reach.

**I gave you the lack of plot warning. If you didn't listen and were displeased, it's your own damn fault, now, isn't it?**

**Sorry if this is a bit choppy. I get most of my writing done during school, either in French or Chem class. Therefore the quality of the writing varies inversely to the amount of notes we are expected to be taking at the time. **

**Next chapter will have so much plot that you could cut it with a knife. I think. And if it doesn't... well, the next one will. Promise.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Slowly but surely, this fic draws to a close. I don't know how many chapters are left– probably one or two. Thank you to all you wonderful readers a BIIIIIIIIIIIIG thank you to all you wonderful reviewers. I shall write comments back to you on the last chapter. Because I care.**

**This is a really boring chapter– just to warn you. It's the price I have to pay for pounding these off so quickly. I don't put as much thought into all (or any) of the chapters, so I'm sorry. But actually, come to think of it, I really like being able to write these so quickly. Huh. Fancy that. ANYWAY, that's just to warn you that you may be less than entertained by this chapter.**

**I own nothing, but I think that you probably get the picture by now. I mean, seriously– how many times does a girl have to say something in order to get the point across?**

Monica Reyes threw her towel down on her bed. "Jesus Christ!"she exclaimed to her friend. "The hell is wrong with all the girls here? The bathrooms are absolutely _packed_! It is quite literally impossible to get to a single mirror, there are so many girls in there. And I had to wait for forty-five minutes in order to be able to take a five-minute shower!"

Dana Scully, sitting before the mirror hanging on the wall, smiled up at her friend as she brushed her hair. "That's why I took care of all that this afternoon, before the evening rush set in," she said.

"Yes, well aren't you just a little saint," Monica replied. "Turn out that light over there– I have to plug in this hair dryer and I don't want the circuit breaker to blow like it always does."

Sighing, Dana stood and walked over to the far side of the room to turn out the offending light. Once she'd done so, she remained there, staring out into the dark beyond a nearby window. "It's mass pandemonium out there!" she exclaimed to her friend. "People running to and from the dorms– it's crazy!"

"Almost as if there's an alien invasion going on," Monica remarked jokingly, over the blare of the hair dryer. "I bet Spooky Mulder'll love that."

"Spooky?" Dana asked, glancing back at her friend.

"Heard some guy calling him that," Monica explained. "Thought it kind of fit."

"Mmmm." Dana returned to staring out the window. Mulder's strange beliefs and behaviors had made him one of the most well-known characters on campus– everyone knew who Fox Mulder was. But still, despite all the strangeness that accompanied Mulder, Dana was uncomfortable with the nickname that had been assigned to him. It dehuminized him, in a small way, making it easier to overlook the man and hurt the cardboard cutout of Spooky.

"Oh, shit!" Monica exclaimed from behind Dana. "Look at the time! Brad's going to be here in half an hour!"

Dana glanced at the clock– 7:30. "Damn!" she cried. "Doggett's coming at 8, too! We'd better get ready!"

A flurry of activity filled the room as the two women struggled with hair, pantyhose, dresses, shoes, and makeup. By helping each other out, they were able to be suitably pulled done up by eight o'clock. Before their dates arrived, they took turns standing in front of the mirror and taking in the overall affect that their ensembles had.

Monica was quite content with her dress. It was black, cut low in the back, with a square neck in the front and long sleeves that came to a point over the backs of her hands. The full skirt of the dress fell to just above her knees, and she was wearing ankle boots that she'd been given as a going-off-to-college present. _Thank God we didn't have to come in costume,_ she thought, shuddering at the idea of going to a dance dressed as a witch or a zombie or some other such creature– her desire to go to those types of parties had died when she'd left the fifth grade.

After Monica moved aside to change one tiny thing about her hair, Dana took her turn in front of the mirror. Reflected back in the glass, she saw a tiny woman wearing a fitted green dress that came down to her knees, with a heart-shaped neck and three-quarters-length sleeves. She smiled at her reflection and smoothed her hair once more.

There came a knock at the door. "We'll be right there!"cried Monica, who was right in the middle of fixing an errant lock of brown hair back into place. "Is that Brad or John?" she asked Dana, who shrugged and went to check.

Looking through the peep-hole mounted in the door, Dana could see Brad standing outside, looking slightly nervous, and carrying a flower that was clearly meant for Monica. Dana was about to report this back to her friend when she saw John Doggett walking toward Brad. Listening carefully, Dana could just make out their conversation through the door.

"Oh," Doggett said. "Hey, Follmer."

"Hi," Brad said, looking uncertainly at Doggett. "Who're you here for?"

"Scu– er, Dana," he replied. "You for Monica?"

"Yeah..."

Their conversation trailed off into an uncomfortable silence as they both waited for the door to open, looking at the stars, at the brass number on the wall, at the ground, at anything but each other. Finally, Dana decided to have pity on the poor men, and opened the door.

"Hi, you two," she said. "John, I'll just get my coat, and then we can go."

But John wasn't listening. Instead, he was staring at Monica, who he seemed to perceive as the most beautiful being on the face of the planet at that moment. Brad Follmer seemed to be doing much the same thing, leaving Dana feeling a bit left out. She hovered in the background as the two men she'd just let into her room ogled her friend for all they were worth. Finally, she cleared her throat, bringing all three back to earth.

"Shall we go?" she said pointedly to Doggett, who looked about ready to sweep Monica into a passionate embrace– and she didn't seem as though she'd mind that much if he did.

Doggett shook his head as if to clear it. "Oh . . . er . . . yeah. We'll just . . . go then." He glanced one more time back at Monica, only to see Follmer offering her his arm. Giving the couple a furious look, Doggett stormed out the door of the room, leaving Dana to trail behind him like the lost puppy she felt like.

When they got to the main hall, Dana was almost pleased to see Mulder there– at least he wasn't someone who completely ignored her. But just as she was about to go over and say hi (and possibly apologize to make up for the fight that they'd been having), she saw a brunette beauty slink over and wrap her arms around his neck to whisper something in his ear– something that made the man go red and begin to babble a bit.

_Diana Fowley_, Dana thought. _That bitch._ She watched as Fowley pulled Mulder onto the dance floor and began to slow dance with him– something that Dana would very much have liked to do herself.

Mulder looked up and glanced straight across the room where the dance was being held– right into Dana's eyes. Their gazes locked and she suddenly felt as though she was going weak at the knees. But just as she thought she might stumble, a voice beside her said, "I got you a soda, Dana. That all right for you?"

Dana turned and took the can of soda from John Doggett, giving him a weak smile. "Thanks," she said. She glanced back to the dancing couple and saw that Mulder was making conversation with Fowley, ignoring Scully and Doggett. Dana sighed.

"Look, John," she said, returning her attention to the man standing next to her. "I'm not going to avoid this any longer. We both know that we'd rather be here with someone else– Monica for you, and...er...well, someone else for me."

"Mulder," Doggett supplied, smiling slightly.

"Perhaps," Dana replied enigmatically. "Anyway, the point is that...well, I don't really have a point, but what I'm trying to say is that, no offense, but I really don't think of you in any sort of romantic way, and I know that you feel the same about me. Is that right?"

John nodded, his smile broadening. "You got it in one, Scully," he said. "No offense meant, of course."

"Good," stated Dana, grinning up at the man.

"Well, now that we've gotten that in the open," he said. "Would you care to dance?"

"I'd love to," Dana replied, placing her hand in his. And with one last glance at Mulder (she didn't see the look that her partner cast to Monica and Follmer who were talking on the far side of the room), she let Doggett lead her onto the dance floor.

**Alrgiht, so I told you that it was a fairly boring chapter. And I was right, now wasn't I? But don't worry– no matter if you're an MSR or a DDR lover, your couple WILL get together in the end, because I am a fluff lover and could not stand it any other way. Also, next chapter will be a great deal more exciting, since that thing called "plot" will be kicking in. Damn that elusive plot.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Plot AND cutesiness! Who could ask for anything more? The first bit of this chapter is heavy MSR stuff, so if you don't like that, feel free to skip it. Next part is Plot, and I'm hoping to work in some DRR at the end, just to please everyone! Because I like it when people are happy, don't you? You know you do. Yes you do.**

**Nothing. Not a single thing. NOTHING DO I OWN! I can't get more emphatic without using some serious four-letter words, and I'm trying to cut back. They're bad for your health, I know that much.**

Dana Scully scanned the ballroom where Yale's Homecoming dance was being held for familiar faces. Her date, John Doggett, had just gone to get another soda, leaving her alone to fend for herself for a few minutes. She searched for her friend Monica and her date, Brad Follmer, but she couldn't find either of them. _I hope that they're not doing what I think they're doing,_ she thought. _I don't know how Doggett would react to that at all._

Dana then scanned the crowd for Mulder and Diana Fowley. She found the woman right off, standing beside the refreshment table as she glared, scanning the crowd just like Dana. Dana smiled– Mulder had obviously given his date the slip, and for some reason, this made her unaccountably happy. She was about to go to search for Doggett when a hand plucking at her sleeve stopped her. She turned and stared up into a man's hazel eyes.

"Hey," Mulder said, shifting uncomfortably as he met her gaze.

"Hi," Dana said, with an eyebrow raised. "Shouldn't you be with Diana?"

Mulder blushed. "Well, she's...er..._fun _for a moment or two," he said, looking even more uncomfortable than before, if that was possible. "But in the end, she's boring. No variety, you know?" He looked down at the ground. "Besides," he added. "I'd...er...I'd much rather be here with you."

Dana didn't say anything– she just beamed up him.

"And, uh...I'm really sorry that we fought and everything," Mulder continued, beginning to smile a little. "But that's why I like being with you. We're not always the same to each other." The DJ began to play the song 'Walking in Memphis' and he held out a hand to Dana. "You wanna dance?"

"Yeah," whispered Dana, placing her hand in his. He lead her out onto the dance floor.

John Doggett watched from the other side of the room, smiling into his soda. He'd just known that that was the right time to go get a soda! Sliding a glance sideways, he saw Diana Fowley's face contorted in rage as she watched the two dance as though there was no one else in the world.

Doggett was about to go get some chips when he heard someone calling his name. "Hey, Doggett!" came a voice from behind him. Doggett turned and saw Brad Follmer approaching him, an anxious look on his face.

"Hey, Follmer," Doggett said. "What's goin' on?" Then, in a measured, calm tone that he was very proud of, he added, "Where's Monica?"

"Dunno, man," Follmer said. "That's what I was about to ask you. About fifteen minutes ago, this kid– name of Alex Kry-something– came up and said that Carlson needed a quick word with her. She went off with him and I haven't seen her since."

"Huh," Doggett said, beginning to feel worried himself. Something was niggling in the back of his mind– something that Monica had mentioned to him, something that Dana had told her, one of Mulder's crazy theories. Something about tonight...

"Christ," he breathed when it came to him. "'Scuse me, Follmer."

"Wait– Doggett!" he heard the blonde cry as John wove his way through the crowd towards the dancing figures of Mulder and Scully. Mulder was dipping his partner and she was laughing as Doggett approached, feeling disgustingly sweaty from the close press of bodies in the room. Neither of the couple saw him for a moment until Doggett grabbed hold of Mulder's arm.

"Mulder!" he shouted above the loud music. "Scully! Is there anything potentially dangerous about tonight? Anything that would cause it to be bad if a student went missing?"

Mulder brought his partner back up to stand upright and steadied her as she stumbled a bit. He'd obviously forgotten all about it while he'd been dancing, but now Doggett's words brought him back to Earth.

"Yeah," he said. "There's a bunch of files and things– but wait– how did you know about that? Who told you?"

"Monica did," Doggett replied, waving his hand dismissively. "But that's not important. What _is _important is that Monica's missing. Follmer said that this kid told her that Professor Carlson wanted a word a while ago, and she hasn't been back since!"

Mulder's eyes widened– it felt as though a bolt of electricity had burst through him, spurring him to action. "We've got to get out of this room," he muttered to Dana and Doggett, as though he was afraid someone was listening. "We have to find Monica before it's too late."

He began striding out of the ballroom, Dana and Doggett trailing behind him. "Mulder," Dana said, "she's probably just discussing a project with him. Either that or, worst-case-scenario, she's being raped."

This possibility did not seem to comfort the distraught-looking Doggett.

"October 31, Scully," Mulder said over his shoulder as all three students stepped into the cool night. "It's always October 31. Every single Homecoming Dance a student has disappeared, only to reappear at the beginning of the next year. Dead. And it's all been covered up for decades. We've got a chance to uncover the truth, Scully. Are you going to let that pass by?"

"Of course not, Mulder," Dana replied. "But I think that our ideas of The Truth are considerably different."

Mulder laughed a bit and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "you've got that right." Then he took out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Who are you calling?" Doggett asked, curious.

"Lone Gunmen," Mulder replied. "They're having an anti-dance party in Frohike's room. They should all be in there by now, watching Disney movies and eating– Hello?" He paused. "Yeah, it's Mulder. We need you down here, right now. And bring those folders of mine with you." He paused again. "I don't care if Aladdin is about to escape from a fiery-molten-lava cave. It can wait. Get out here _now_!" He hung up the phone.

Dana would have laughed had she not been so worried for her friend. Doggett didn't seem to be doing much better either. His eyes kept shifting back and forth, perpetually looking for a sign of a girl in a black dress– but nothing popped out to him, extraterrestrial or otherwise.

A few seconds later, the three Lone Gunmen came spilling out of the dorms at a dead run. Langly was in the lead, looking entirely ridiculous with his blonde hair flying out behind him like a pitiful sort of cape. Byers was behind him, waving the folders in his hand and his tie flapping over his shoulder. Frohike came last, short legs pumping, cursing all tall people under his breath as he came sprinting over to the other three students.

"Monica's missing," Mulder offered by way of explanation. "I think it's got to do with those–" he nodded to the folders in Byers's hand. "We have to find her."

"Spread out?"suggested Dana. "I know it never works in horror movies, but this is real life, and we need to cover as much ground as possible in order to find her. I'll take the girls' dorms, Mulder you take the campus from that tree over. Doggett, you've got the rest of the campus, and you three guys can cover the school building. Got it?"

"Right," said Doggett, nodding. "Er...shouldn't we tell a teacher or something?"

Mulder and Scully exchanged a glance and then smiled. "I think that might possibly be something that we very much _don't _want to do," Mulder replied. "Come on. Let's get going."

**All right, so I lied and there's no DRR in this chapter– I'm sorry. But there is some next chapter. I promise I promise I promise. Because I like it as much as the next girl.**

**Please read and review. This fic is coming to an end, and the perfect way to celebrate the end to any fic is with an onslaught of reviews, right? **

**Well, if that's not the way that it is, it's the way that it should be.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey hey hey, everyone! Ready for the climax? And all that lovely DRR that I promised? I'm sure you are. There is also some MSR in here, too, if only because I love that ship so very very much. **

**Review one last time if you liked the fic, because it will bolster my self-esteem (something that every teenage girl needs this days) and will all-in-all, make the world a better, shinier, more happy place.**

**For the LAST TIME, I own nothing.**

John Doggett raced over towards the spot that Scully had pointed out for him to search. His heart was pounding in his ears and his mouth tasted bitter and metallic. He was panicking slightly, the need to find Monica coming before everything else in his mind.

It was dark, and for a moment he wished that he'd stolen Mulder's flashlight, just so that he wouldn't be tripping and stumbling about as much as he was now. There were no lights in this part of the campus– it was too far off-trail for any student or teacher to venture after dark. Any student or teacher who needed light for what they had in mind, that is.

Doggett's eyes were continually scanning the darkness, searching for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. His ears were focused, listening for the sound of a woman's screams, or of anything, really.

He stumbled through a small copse of trees and almost fell several times, the ground was so uneven. But every time he fell, he picked himself back up, cursing as he did so, and limped forward once more.

As he emerged out of the other side of the trees, he became aware of a faint humming noise to his right. He shifted direction and sprinted towards the sound, heart sounding in his ears. As he rounded a corner, around another cluster of trees, he was momentarily blinded by a white light.

When his vision cleared, he found himself staring upwards at– something. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it he knew what it _wasn't_: it wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before in his life.

And it had Monica. A beam of light extended towards the ground, and she was caught in it, floating upwards like some sick doll. She was limp, lying horizontally as, defying gravity, she rose towards the ship hovering above her. Doggett wanted to call out to her, but his voice locked in his throat– either out of fear or out of some outside intervention, he couldn't be sure. So instead, he moved forward.

Monica was about level with his eyes as he stepped towards the circle of light. When he reached the edge, he took a deep breath and stuck a hand out, grabbing hold of Monica's limp arm. There was a moment of tension as she continued to rise, and Doggett glanced upwards at the source of the light.

There, in the circle where the brilliance was emanating from, were the outlines of several small creatures. They were staring down at him, watching him as he fought with their beam, trying to wrestle Monica back to the ground. He saw one of them nod, and then suddenly the light cut off. There was a whooshing sound, and then John was staring up at the stars– it was as though there had never been anything blocking the sky at all.

His attention shifted to the woman on the ground. She was lying in a strange position, and looked almost as though she were asleep. John knelt beside her and pulled her head into his lap. He stroked her hair back from her face and called softly, "Monica? Mon? You there?"

He realized how stupid he sounded, but he really didn't care. All that he wanted was for Monica to wake up and to be all right, and for this whole night to just go away and to forget what he'd just seen.

"John?" Monica's eyes fluttered open and stared up into Doggett's. "John, what happened"

"Damned if I know," Doggett replied, hoarsely. He reached out without being aware of it, and stroked her cheek. "Damned if I know."

She covered her hand with his, still gazing into his eyes. "There was light everywhere," she said wonderingly. "And I could hear them– in my head. They were calling to me, they said that they had a place for me where I would be safe."

Doggett shook his head. "They were lyin', Mon. There was nothing for you . . . up there." His voice cracked as he thought about what he had just witnessed, what had nearly happened to the woman who was currently lying in his arms, the woman that meant so much to him.

Monica laced her fingers through his and sat up, still holding his hand in her lap. She placed her other hand on the side of his face and whispered, "Thank you."

"For what?" John asked. His voice was cracking again, but this time, it was for an entirely different reason– it was because she was so near and so warm and all he wanted to do was just reach out and pull her over and kiss her until–

"For whatever you just did," Monica replied, smiling slightly. Doggett's breath caught in his throat. She may have been mussed and slightly dirty, but she was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen. "I'm not sure what it was, but I trust that you did the right thing."

Doggett's lips curled upward in a smile and he moved closer to Monica. Their lips met in a sweet kiss, one that felt as though it would go on forever– a kiss that neither John nor Monica seemed all that eager to stop any time soon.

John buried his hands in Monica's hair, breathing in her smell, trying his hardest to memorize it, to lock it away in some part of his mind so that he would never forget this moment, this woman, this magic, this wonder. Monica's hands were linked loosely behind his neck, and she drew him closer, deepening the kiss and softly biting at his lower lip until he very nearly moaned.

Doggett's cell phone rang, the shrill noise shattering the quiet night and causing the two students to jump apart quickly. Doggett groaned as he reached for his phone and opened it. "Doggett," he said, by way of greeting.

It was Mulder. "Hey, Doggett. You found Monica yet?" His tone was apprehensive– either he was expecting that Doggett had not found anything, or that he'd found Monica's dead body.

Doggett shot a look at the woman sitting opposite him. "Yeah. Yeah, I have."

"Really?" Mulder sounded excited. "Hey, listen, where are you?"

"In the area with all the trees," Doggett said. "Why?"

"I'm going to meet up with Scully and then we can go find you," Mulder said. "I've got a lot of questions for Monica. And you. What happened? What exactly did you _see_?"

"Goodbye, Mulder," Doggett said, hanging up the phone and slipping it back into his pocket. He turned back to Monica who was eyeing him with a look in her eye that would have made Doggett very unhappy, had she used it on any other man.

"What was that all about?" she asked him.

"Mulder," Doggett replied. "He and Scully are going to meet up and come find us."

"Uh-huh," Monica said, smiling slowly. "Well, I think we've got at least ten minutes before they come across us. You got any ideas as to what to do to pass the time?"

"Oh, I figure I've got one or two," Doggett replied. Monica laughed as he pulled her in for another kiss.

Across campus, a short red-headed woman in a nice dress walked up to a taller man. "Hey, Mulder," Dana said, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. Mulder turned and greeted her with a smile.

"Doggett found Reyes, Scully," he said, watching the way that her face lit with a relieved smile.

"Good," she sighed. "So, are we going to go meet up with them or what?"

"I...don't think that they'll want to be disturbed for a while," Mulder replied, smiling wickedly. "Doggett seemed very displeased when I called him. I'd say that he had already been busy with...other matters. If you catch my meaning."

Dana chuckled. "Of course I do," she replied. "Where are the Lone Gunmen?"

"Back to Aladdin," Mulder replied. "Once I'd learned that Doggett had found Reyes, I called them and told them that the search was off and that they could go about their business. I returned them to their regularly scheduled program, I suppose."

"Yes," Scully said, searching for something else to say to no avail. "Well..."

"Hey, Scully," Mulder said, turning to her. In the light of the full moon (_How appropriate for Halloween!_ Dana thought) his eyes almost seemed to glow, as though he was lit by an internal light. "I never got to finish my dance with you."

Dana smiled. "There's no music, Mulder," she told him, laughing.

"There doesn't need to be," he replied, taking her hand and pulling her to him. They swayed side-to-side for a few minutes to music that only Mulder could hear. Dana was tucked up against Mulder's chest and felt as though she didn't ever want to move. But Mulder pulled back and held her at arms length, studying her face.

"Do you trust me?" he asked finally.

She answered simply, "Of course."

A huge grin broke out over Mulder's face and suddenly his mouth was on hers and it was one of the best things that had ever happened to Dana. She wrapped her arms around his neck to ensure that he would not pull away before she wanted to, and they danced until morning.

The brown haired boy stood before the desk. "She was intercepted, sir, before they could get to her. They will not be pleased."

A cigarette flared in the darkness as the smoker took a drag. "They'll move on, Krycek," a gravelly voice said. "For now."

"What about Mulder?" the boy asked. "He knows a lot. So does that girlfriend of his– Dana Scully. What will we do about them?"

"Mulder is no threat," the voice replied sharply. "Nor is Scully. Neither of them know the scale of these events, neither knows exactly what is happening. They are not a problem to our operation."

The boy nodded and left the room without further questions. But something in his gut told him that, while Mulder and Scully might not be much of an issue now, given time and given the opportunity, they could come to know more than anyone ever dreamed.

**MUAH HA HA HA! Yeeeeeeeees, so that's the end of the fic. I left it kind of open because, seriously, who likes completely closed fanfics? Well you might, but I don't. It's nice just to let things continue afterwards.**

**But I hope that you enjoyed this. I'm very proud of it. Very proud indeed. Thank you, to all my reviewers. And thanks to all of you who didn't review but considered it at one point and just read-and-liked this fic.**

**I've got to make a plug for my other username, Dramafool. If you like MSR, I've got a fic on there that, if you haven't read, I'd be much obliged if you did. Just a shameless suggestion.**

**And here are those responses that I promised. They're longer or shorter depending on how many times you reviewed, because I have more to talk about with the people who reviewed more often.**

**Gothic Spook– you are one of my favoritest people ever! I'm really grateful that you've been reading this since I first posted, and have been reviewing just as long. It's nice that I could always see how you liked a chapter– every chapter! Thank you for reviewing and being so nice to me, and also not being afraid to tell me when you didn't like something!**

**Drwhosgothgirl– I'm actually quite flattered that you would want to do a joint fic with me. And I never considered myself a very great writer before you started calling me a genius! So thank you for reading, thank you for reviewing, and thank you for inflating my ego!**

**Midnightstalker01– I'm impressed and flattered that you would take it upon yourself to review every single chapter of my fic! Thanks for liking it that much and for taking the time to review!**

**NightBloomingJasmine2– yet another person who has so kindly been there with this fic since the beginning! Thanks for your fluffy feedback– I do so love to find a fellow fluff-addict. Again, thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Snow1685– thanks for noticing those things about this fic. And thanks for reading and reviewing, of course!**

**Daisyz– thanks for the encouragement and for reading and reviewing!**

**KayNay– thanks for the advice and encouragement, and for reading and reviewing!**


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